Argh! Common sense, anyone?

It is sad when people die. Really, I'm not saying that we shouldn't care, but stop obsessing over every stinkin' illness with a fancy name.

People seem to forget that Mexico has 109 MILLION people and 108,999,000 of those are NOT sick, 108,999,900 have managed to stay alive. The US has 306 MILLION people, 305,999,960 of whom have managed to barely escape this deadly, frightening, terrifying pandemic and 306,000,000 million who have been able to hang on to their lives.

You know what kills 100,000 - 200,000 people every year? The regular ol' flu. Know what kills millions of people every year? Mosquitos. 630,000 people die from falls every year for heaven's sake.

Also, you know what crazy, nearly impossible to perform tricks we are being forced to subject ourselves to in order to avoid this terrifying menace? We are instructed to wash our hands, not sneeze or cough on other people, and stay home from work or school if we're sick. I mean, how the heck are we supposed to do ALL of those things?? We're not magicians!

So stop trying to scare us! Stop sensationlizing diseases! Just because you have 24 hours to fill on your news stations doesn't mean you have to make up stories!


Here are a few facts:

The 1968 Hong Kong flu pandemic killed 33,800 people. While no pandemics have surfaced since 1968, other pandemic "threats" have occurred in the 20th century, including the 1976 "killer flu" (later named "swine flu") threat in the United States which killed one person and led to a mass vaccinations, which killed approximately 25 people by giving them Guillain-Barré syndrome.

The most recent pandemic threats occurred in 1997 and 1999. Hundreds of people became infected with the avian flu virus, or bird flu, which killed six people. This virus was different as it moved from chickens to people, rather than moving through pigs first. Around 1.5 million poultry were slaughtered in Hong Kong to contain the threat.

This newest threat has hit Mexico: 86 deaths had been deemed "likely linked" to a deadly new strain of the flu virus by health authorities there. Viral testing has confirmed 20 cases, said Dr. Jose A. Cordova Villalobos, Mexico's health secretary, and Mexican authorities are investigating at least 1,000 cases of illness.

CDC overreaction (but in their defense, that's their job): CDC-swineflu

And now for the ridiculous reporting:

Mexico swine flu deaths spur global epidemic fears